STUNNING - AT 8:47 A.M. ET:  There have been some stunning columns in recent days from liberal writers severely criticizing President Obama over his governing style.  First, there was Howard Fineman at Newsweek.  Now there is Richard Cohen in the Washington Post.  Is this the start of a defection?  I'm not sure.  This duo is certainly not going to support a Republican candidate for president in our or any other lifetime.  But what if Obama really falters, and Hillary Clinton resigns, and polls show a tough ride for Obama in 2012, and...hmm.  Cohen:

Sooner or later it is going to occur to Barack Obama that he is the president of the United States. As of yet, though, he does not act that way, appearing promiscuously on television and granting interviews like the presidential candidate he no longer is. The election has been held, but the campaign goes on and on. The candidate has yet to become commander in chief.

Ouch!  That one burnt.  And it's so reassuring to see a liberal actually use the term "commander-in-chief" and not sneer.

Cohen skewers Obama over his handling of Iran:

For a crisis such as this, the immense prestige of the American presidency ought to be held in reserve. Let the secretary of state issue grave warnings. When Obama said in Pittsburgh that Iran is "going to have to come clean and they are going to have to make a choice," it had the sound of an ultimatum. But what if the Iranians don't? What then? A president has to be careful with such language. He better mean what he says.

The trouble with Obama is that he gets into the moment and means what he says for that moment only. He meant what he said when he called Afghanistan a "war of necessity" -- and now is not necessarily so sure. He meant what he said about the public option in his health care plan -- and then again maybe not. He would not prosecute CIA agents for getting rough with detainees -- and then again maybe he would.

And Cohen notes that Obama gave Congress an August deadline on health care, then let it slip by.

Obama lost credibility with his deadline-that-never-was and now he threatens to lose some more with his posturing toward Iran. He has gotten into a demeaning dialogue with Ahmadinejad, an accomplished liar. (The next day, the Iranian used a news conference to counter Obama and, days later, Iran tested some intermediate-range missiles.) Obama is our version of a Supreme Leader, not given to making idle threats, setting idle deadlines, reversing course on momentous issues, creating a TV crisis where none existed or, unbelievably, pitching Chicago for the 2016 Olympics. Obama's the president. Time he understood that.

COMMENT:  We'll watch to see if other liberal commentators go in that direction.  One thing is clear, though, and that is that Obama's grip on the throne is slipping.  When a liberal president gets kicked by Fineman and Cohen, that's news.  If Hillary decides to walk next year, as we've speculated she might, that's giant news. 

Stay tuned.  Obama may be attending the 2016 Olympics in Chicago as a spectator.

September 29, 2009